'That seems expensive.'

Noah nodded at the woman's words and moved his gaze back on the formation.

Teleporting wasn't cheap, the Warp spell expended a lot of his "Breath" so Noah guessed that a decent sum was needed to use that service.

"How much would it cost to take the route that you suggested?"

Noah wasn't short of money, he could be considered quite rich for his status.

"Five hundred Credits to reach island one hundred and seventy and seven hundred from there to reach island one hundred and thirty-two. The prices are set based on the distance between the teleportation matrixes and the importance of the destination."

'That's not as bad as I thought, I guess they still want to give some chances to the people in the poorer islands.'

The price set on the matrixes was a clear barrier to the citizens of the archipelago.

The poorest ones would decide to remain on the peripheral islands and continue working there instead of moving to the inner parts, looking for a better occupation.

Noah could already guess that there was a connection between the richer islands and the level of their inhabitants.

'I wonder how much they gain with this system, the organizations behind the matrixes should be filthy rich!'

Owning the monopoly over a basic service was always extremely remunerative, Noah was starting to understand the reason behind the flashy yellow robe of the woman.

"I'll take the route that you suggested."

Noah handed five hundred Credits to her and stepped on the formation, calmly waiting for her to power it.

The woman stored three hundred Credits in her space-ring and placed the remaining two hundred on the borders of the formation.

The symbols and lines on the ground lit up as soon as the crystals touched their borders and began to envelop Noah in a soft white light.

"One hundred and seventy."

The woman spoke to the formation, completely activating it as the destination was set.

Noah felt a slight pressure on his mental sphere when the scenery changed drastically right in front of his eyes.

The barracks disappeared, replaced by many one or two-story buildings orderly built on the ground.

Next to him, many other matrixes could be seen inscribed on the terrain, Noah counted fifteen of them from his position.

A stream of cultivators walked calmly on the streets, they wandered between the many shops that filled the scenery.

"Hey, don't just stand there, we need to use the matrix!"

Noah's train of thoughts was interrupted by the rough voice of a bald man dressed in an eye-catching yellow robe similar to the one that the elderly woman was wearing.

Only then he realized that there was a line of cultivators near the matrixes, anxiously waiting for their turn.

Noah stepped off the formation and left the crowd in front of them, he wanted to analyze the situation before going to the market.

'They should belong to different organizations, there seem to be three of them in total. I suppose there is one for each faction.'

He could see that there were two other types of cultivators that handled the formations, they wore azure and white robes that were of a similar quality of the yellow ones.

'They sure don't try to hide their wealth, I guess those matrixes lead to islands belonging to the Utra nation and the Empire. Well, I'll stick with yellow.'

Noah appointed that discovery in his mind and began to walk through the streets of the city that expanded itself on the island.

'This should be some kind of residential area where cultivators of any faction can live. The division between the big countries should be limited to the many businesses that fill the archipelago.'

The city was mostly composed of habitations available for rent, banners with any kind of writing and price could be seen fixed on top of some building.

Some of them had symbols of a faction next to the prices while others explicitly prevented to cultivators of different countries from renting the houses, the majority of them though were open to everyone.

'The shops here cover only a small part of the market, there is nothing that catches my attention.'

Island one hundred and seventy only had shops that were useless to Noah.

They were mostly taverns or restaurants, with a few stores specialized in refined clothes that had some inscription on them.

Seeing that he couldn't find anything worthy of his time, Noah returned to the shore where the matrixes were placed.

"Destination?"

The bald man with a yellow robe smiled seeing that he had returned to the matrix of his faction, his clients were divided between the other two organizations after all.

"I heard that there is a market on island one hundred and thirty-two, is that true?"

The man nodded before giving a quick explanation.

"Yes, that market is a neutral area, the merchants from each faction place their stands there. It's seven hundred Credits for the transport."

Noah had the money already in his hands when the man confirmed the elderly woman's words.

The same process happened, Noah stepped on the matrix and the man used some of his Credits to activate it.

The scenery changed again, the buildings disappeared only to be replaced by fancy shops that had large banners on their front.

There seemed to be even more people on that island, crowds could be seen staring with greedy eyes at the items inside some of the stores while the wealthiest ones were casually walking along what looked like soldiers.

'So, there are soldiers in the archipelago, I was starting to doubt about their existence.'

Island one hundred and seventy didn't have any guard, the only cultivators that seemed to have any kind of authority were those that handled the teleportation matrixes.

There though, Noah saw how some cultivator was escorted by groups of stern-looking guards.

The people that saw them coming would just move away from their path and stare at them in envy.

'Stick with yellow and avoid those guys, I shouldn't expose myself before having a clear picture of the archipelago.'

It was with those thoughts that left the matrix, nearing a store that had a flashy map as its banner.

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